2011.10.01 Changes to US Patent Law
Immediate
Implementation (September, 2011)
- 75% discount for micro-entities
- Strategies for reducing, avoiding or
deferring tax liability are not patentable - Patents on human organism permanently
barred - 15% increase on all fees
- Priority examination now available
- Penalty for not filing electronically
Implementation
after 12 months (September, 2012)- Oath or declaration and assignment can
be combined - Correction of oaths and declarations
allowed at any time, therefore no requirement for supplemental oaths - Filing permitted by one to whom the
inventor is obliged to assign - Easier to file a declaration where the
inventor is unwilling to cooperate - Third party observations are allowed
- Post-grant review within 9 months of
grant (c.f. Opposition) is available to real party in interest
Implementation
after 18 months (March, 2013)- The right to the invention belongs to
the first to file - Any public use or offer for sale
anywhere prior to filing is a bar - Any public disclosure anywhere not from
the applicant is a bar (Inventor has a 1-year grace period from earliest filing
anywhere) - Any published applications or patents
filed prior to an application’s effective filing date is prior art with regard
to novelty and non-obviousness as of their effective filing date (but co-owned
or co-assigned applications or patents are not prior art either for novelty or
inventive step)
